According to MCV Director Felix Chirombo, roads into the villages have been flooded and reaching the villages has been challenging to impossible. The homes of more than 152 orphans and their caregivers have been damaged beyond livability, or completely destroyed.

The basics of survival in the villages – food, water and shelter – have been swept away. Many villagers are now living in the village primary schools; others do not have even basic shelter from the rains, let alone blankets or dry clothing. They lack food and water. Pit latrines have been washed away in the floods, leaving behind unsanitary conditions and a high risk for cholera.

A home in one of the MCV’ area villages destroyed by the recent floods

International relief organizations are mobilizing to help the people of Malawi, and it may be weeks before the 37 MCV-supported villages receive aid. The MCV staff is making efforts to reach the villages with maize, blankets plastic sheeting for temporary shelter and food and blankets. It is hard to imagine that such simple items are lifesavers – yet for the people of our 37 villages, they are.

The MCV Board in the United States is painfully aware of the human toll of the floods. Many Board members have stepped up with personal contributions to these very early relief efforts, and we will no doubt continue to support efforts to repair and rebuild in the villages when the floods subside.

Those of you who support MCV share our love for the Warm Heart of Africa. For those of you who are able to join us in making a special contribution to these ongoing relief efforts, your contributions will be gratefully accepted and put to good use. Please click here to join us.

On behalf of the people and the orphans who call these 37 villages home, thank you for your support of MCV; thank you for being a lifesaver.

Our mission is to enhance the lives of orphans

MCV’s mission is to enhance the lives of orphans by providing health, social and educational resources in 39 villages along the southwest shore of Lake Malawi.